Rockets fall back down to earth after OT loss

The setup was perfect and all 18,140 in Toyota Center for the Rockets’ home opener knew it as they rose to their feet to scream through the final 19 seconds.

A road trip of spectacular piled on top of spectacular had brought James Harden back to Houston and to this moment to spike a final exclamation point. These were not just beard-wearing, bandwagon-jumping fans who expected another achievement from a player who had put himself on lists with Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.

The Rockets, and most of all Harden, expected it, too, as he held the ball through those final seconds of regulation, as if preparing to complete his week with the most stunning and appropriate play.

The problem with all of that, as the Rockets had often said, was that they were not supposed to need Harden to carry them as far as he had. He dribbled out 17 of the fourth quarter’s final 19 seconds before Wesley Matthews smacked the ball away, sending the game to overtime where Portland rolled to a 95-85 victory Saturday night.

There were all sorts of chances to close out the win before that final play. Omer Asik missed a layup minutes before. Jeremy Lin tried an alley-oop on the previous possession. But after the previous two games, it was clear this was Harden’s moment, one he will face many times.

“It was good defense,” Harden said. “I lost the ball. That’s the last shot. I made sure there was no time left on the clock for them to get an opportunity to score.”

Rockets coach Kevin McHale agreed that with the game tied, the idea was to open the floor for Harden to run the clock down and take the final shot. But the Rockets, Harden included, remain at their best when they and the ball are moving.

Harden gives them a one-on-one option they lacked. His great strength gives him the ability to see opportunities and read the defense quickly.

As with the final play, when the ball stopped, the offense was in neutral.

The Rockets had been shooting poorly from distance, but made 45.6 percent of their shots in the first two games, averaging 107 points. Against the long and active Portland defense, the Rockets made just 35.4 percent and just one of eight in overtime.

“We didn’t have nearly enough ball movement, not enough pace in the game,” McHale said. “We missed a lot of shots at the rim. We got to get the ball up and down the floor. We got to be able to attack and move the ball and get the ball going from side to side.”

Instead, with Harden unable to recapture the magic of his triumphs in Detroit and Atlanta, the offense had little left. Jeremy Lin had 13 points and seven assists, and finished a drive through LaMarcus Aldridge and J.J. Hickson for a three-point lead with 1:17 left in regulation. Marcus Morris scored 13 points in 15 minutes. Patrick Patterson came up with a pair of huge buckets down the stretch.

Bit the Rockets looked to Harden to do the heavy lifting. After scoring 82 points in his first two games, he started well, making four of six shots in the first quarter. But as the offense became as stagnant as the statue many seemed ready to build for him, he could not get the tough shots to fall that had in the previous two games. He made just four of 18 shots the rest of the way.

A tweaked ankle robbed him of some “juice,” McHale said.

“To be honest, yeah,” Harden said when asked about the ankle. “I don’t like to make excuses. I had opportunities to make plays, make shots and I just didn’t. That’s just basketball. We had a lot of good opportunities. The shots just didn’t fall. There’s going to be nights like that.”

But after the previous two, that had become easy to forget, especially as the game came down to a last chance.

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See the best photos from the Rockets’ loss.

Photo: Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle

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Rockets guard James Harden led the team in points for the third consecutive game.

Rockets guard James Harden led the team in points for the third consecutive game.

Photo: Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle

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The Rockets gave coach Kevin McHale reason to yell against the Trail Blazers.

The Rockets gave coach Kevin McHale reason to yell against the Trail Blazers.